


Sometimes It's Not The Destination

by nightfalltwen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Germany, India, Thailand, World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:53:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22103623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfalltwen/pseuds/nightfalltwen
Summary: He keeps showing up no matter where in the world she might be.  And she doesn't mind not one little bit.
Relationships: Lavender Brown/Neville Longbottom
Kudos: 9
Collections: Smutty Claus Exchange





	Sometimes It's Not The Destination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ragdoll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragdoll/gifts).



> Written for the final **Smutty_Claus** gift fest on livejournal. Merry Holidays, **ragdoll**! I'm thrilled to have created this for you and I really hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to my wonderful betas **cryptaknight** and **glitter_pink** who have been the second opinion and betas for the majority of my **Smutty_Claus** submissions. Thank you for coming to my rescue. I love you both so much. An enormous and wonderful thank you to everyone involved with this fest. **Smutty_Claus** is the best because of everyone involved.
> 
> ** Note ** Character descriptions are based on ragdoll's headcanon.

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

**January**

"That sigh was quite possibly the most dramatic I've heard yet," Parvati said, flicking her wand at the strand of fairy lights that adorned the large front window. They wound themselves around a spool before tucking into a bag and rolling up the stairs.

Lavender sent the last box of tree ornaments, carefully wrapped in paper and tucked safely away, floating up to the attic storage. She gazed sadly at the sitting room, now devoid of festive cheer and she almost wanted to start the countdown until she was able to string up the lights once more. She looked over at Parvati who was rearranging the curtains to their pre-decoration position.

"Aren't you just a little bit sad?" she asked. 

"Hardly," Parvati chuckled. "You put all this stuff up far too early."

Lavender flopped herself onto the sofa, puffing a strand of hair out of her face. "It's like we just sucked all the colour and cheer out of winter. Now everything is just awful and grey. And not even like a lovely dove-grey, but that terrible slushy grey after the snow only half melts." She looked up at her friend. "It's not like I have the luxury of a second home in warm and colourful India."

Parvati swatted her with a throw pillow and plopped down on the sofa, Lavender's head next to her hip. "I'm sorry, but I believe there has been an open invitation for you to visit. Nani and Dadi adore you. You literally have that exact luxury and you've never taken advantage of it."

Lavender grinned. She'd met Parvati and Padma's paternal grandparents at fourteen when they'd come to England for the World Cup. She'd especially loved their grandfather who was, to her surprise, one of the biggest Bulgarian quidditch fans. When she'd asked Dadi about it, he'd expounded for nearly an hour on why he loved the team. At least that's what Padma had told her in translation. The older man spoke only Hindi and Lavender didn't speak a lick. The only thing she had understood in his long speech was the name Viktor Krum. But she'd smiled and nodded and bantered back and forth Dadi in her own way. By the end of the Cup, before all the awful events that followed during the post-game celebrations, she'd quickly found herself considered a de facto member of the family.

"Do you think I should?" she asked, peering up at her friend.

"What's stopping you?"

Lavender snorted. "Isn't everything?"

Pushing herself up from the sofa, Parvati looked down at Lavender, canting her head slightly. "You can't tell me that you actually enjoy that horrible job at Malkin's and haven't daydreamed about quitting on the spot. It's not as if you're destitute; I've _seen_ your vault balance and I still can't fathom why you haven't spent any of that money the ministry gave you after the war." She leaned down, their noses almost touching. "I think you're in a rut and don't know how to get out of it. I think you should tell that ponce who took over Malkins where to stuff his wand and sublet the flat. I think you should come with Padma and I to see Nani and Dadi for Holi."

"You certainly do think a lot," Lavender retorted with a laugh.

"Someone has to!" Parvati grinned and poked her in the stomach. "Of the two of us, I'm sure I'm the one with the most smarts."

"That's insulting!"

Parvati's dark eyes glittered mischievously. "Then prove me wrong, Brown. Prove me oh so wrong."

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

**March**

For the very first time since arriving in Mumbai, Lavender didn't wake up in a dead panic that she was late for work. Instead she stretched her arms up over her head and kicked off the light blanket. Through the window, left open over the warm night, the hint of drying seaweed and salt water seemed to curl in on the breeze from the surrounding harbour. Inhaling deeply, Lavender felt memories of childhood holidays to Blackpool float up to the surface of her mind. The smell here was completely different, but it still made her think of sitting on the beach with her dad when she was small.

An excited flurry of knocks on the guest room door pulled Lavender back from her thoughts of childhood and she rolled off the bed, wiggling her toes against the cool tile floor. She tucked her hair behind her ears and stood for a moment, smiling when the flurry of knocks started up again.

"Lavender come onnnnnn," Parvati pleaded from the other side of the door as if she was twelve and not in her mid-twenties. "We're going to miss all the best things."

Lavender turned the small key in the ornate door and pulled it open. She'd been fully ready to point out that both Parvati and Padma had said the feisty party at Kalamb beach, north of Mumbai, was an all day event and that there was absolutely no rush. However, before she could get a word out, a tangle of coloured fabric was shoved in her face as Parvati nearly plowed her way into the room. Swatting the vibrant teal fabric away, Lavender nearly fell backwards onto the bed she'd just vacated. 

"Dadi got us all new dresses!" Parvati practically squealed, spreading out the lahenga across the unmade bed.

"You sound so surprised," Padma spoke from the doorway. "Dadi _always_ gets us new outfits for Holi."

Lavender sucked in a little gasp when she glanced toward the door. To say she was floored was probably putting it a bit lightly. Now she had never actually considered herself the sort to go for a girl, but in another lifetime, if she actually swung that way, it would definitely be for one of the Patil sisters. With their nut brown skin and dark hair, there wasn't an item of clothing that ever really looked bad on either woman. They were stunning. And even though they looked almost identical, Lavender couldn't imagine Padma wearing the fuchsia pink outfit that Parvati sported or Parvati donning the royal blue and gold that her sister had put on. The two of them were mirror images and yet still managed to look completely different and completely beautiful in their own way.

It would have been depressing if she'd been a girl with no confidence.

Parvati waved her hand dismissively at her sister and snatched up the embroidered choli. "I knew that they'd get them for us, but I didn't think they'd get one for Lavender too."

Snatching the top piece out of Parvati's hand, Lavender stuck out her tongue. "Of course they did. I'm the proper English granddaughter that Dadi has always wanted." Laughing, she dodged a swat from her best friend and gathered up the luscious fabric in her arms.

It was probably a good hour and a half later when they were finally all dressed and ready to go. Parvati had spent most of that time helping Lavender do something fun with her hair, applying various curling spells until the long brown strands did exactly what she wanted them to do. The end result was truly impressive, curls sitting in in a cascade over one shoulder, mimicking the embroidery that flowed over the one side of the lehenga. Though if Holi was anything like Lavender had been told, she expected that all would be for naught and the hairstyle would be drenched and fallen within the first fifteen minutes.

It was hours later, the sun directly overhead and exhaustion from dancing that had Lavender excusing herself from the Patil sisters.

Making her way across the sand and through the festival goers, new applications of various colours and blessings as she went, Lavender made her way to the trees that lined the isolated beach. She found a small spot just behind a rock that no one had claimed and swept aside the small piles of leaves and flowers with the hem of her skirt. Glancing back at the crowd, she discreetly pulled her wand from her pocket and conjured a cushion to sit upon and then propped herself up against the rock.

"Um. My specimens were here." 

A throat cleared above her left shoulder. Lavender looked up, shielding her eyes, her mouth falling open in surprise as she stared up into the face of quite possibly the very last person she expected to see at some random beach festival on the Indian coast. Neville Longbottom looked at her, an awkward expression on his face and gestured to the leaves and flowers she'd swept aside. He tried repeating himself, but even with her not knowing a lick of Hindi, she knew he was butchering it. He switched to a mangled German (or what she thought was maybe German) and gestured to the plants again.

She broke out into a grin and leapt to her feet, flinging herself at him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He went all tense on her. At least she thought he did. She wasn't absolutely certain and it was a little hard to tell, what with his shoulders being quite a lot broader and definitely more muscular than she could remember. She hugged him tightly.

"N-no," he stammered. "No that's not what I meant."

"I understand what you meant, Neville," she replied, squeezing him tighter. "I'm just glad to see you!"

He paused and his hands came up to her arms, lightly grasping them and tugging them down. He leaned back and searched her face, confusion at first dawning into recognition. "Lavender?"

"I know, I know," she said, wiping at the bright red and blues on her cheeks. "I'm thirteen different colours at the moment, but I didn't think I was _that_ different. I mean... you on the other hand. I'm surprised I recognized _you_ "

Which was the honest truth. While he hadn't put on any inches in height, he'd certainly toned up on all the ways that she thought were quite lovely. His arms especially. Of what she could see of them at least. His shirt sleeves had only been rolled to his elbows, but his forearms and brow sported a lovely tan. One that wasn't normally expected on those of the English variety. She herself often told people her own skin went from bone china to lobster red with no in between. Neville seemed to have found some hidden tanning gene. It really wasn't fair.

His face went pink. "I just... well this is the last place I expected to find you."

"I could say the same thing," she replied with a bounce. "What are you doing here?"

Neville scrubbed at his unshaven cheek before flapping the front of his shirt. Lavender covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled. Her embrace had left behind a colourful imprint that mixed with the slightly muddy smears on what might have once been a white linen shirt. 

"I've been doing fieldwork the last couple of years. There are so many undiscovered plants, especially in Asia, and I've been on a grant from the Ministry." He looked down at the scattered plants.

"I thought you were teaching at Hogwarts," she said, decidedly _not_ looking at the plants. Instead she looked at him. 

Though it really wasn't her fault. He hadn't left a sign or anything that the little piles had been important.

"Sabbatical."

She tilted her head. "So.... taking a break from work to do more work."

Neville looked at her for a long moment before he started to laugh. "Yeah, I suppose it sounds a little strange when you put it that way."

"It sounds practically Hermione-like and that certainly won't do when you're here during an important holiday." She reached forward and grabbed his wrist. "Come on then."

Ignoring any protest, she dragged him onto the sand and into the crowd. The bangle around her wrist, charmed to keep them from becoming separated in the throng of people tugged her back toward where Parvati and Padma were chatting up a couple of unfairly beautiful young men. Their reaction to Neville suddenly appearing almost mirrored Lavender's only with much more colour (Parvati had the bag of powder) and so many more questions (Ravenclaws. Of course.).

He stayed with them until the crowd thinned and the sun went down. Parvati invited him back to the house and at first he protested, but it was three against one and he really didn't stand a chance.

"So is it back to the grind of digging in the dirt and looking for plants then?" Lavender asked, joining him on the patio at the back of the house. 

She held out a glass of mango lassi. Parvati and Padma had packed up a large basket of sweets and gone on a customary visit with Nani and Dadi to the neighbours. The house was quiet and Lavender was glad to stay back for a bit. She had been loving every moment of her trip, but it was nice to take a break from the language that wasn't hers before plunging back into it at full throttle in the morning.

"Well _someone_ kicked aside all my specimens this afternoon and I have to start over." Neville gave her a wry look and without warning reached over and tapped the end of her nose. 

The playful motion caught her off guard and she smiled, feeling a slight blush heat her cheeks. Luckily the patio wasn't all that well lit. A flushed face would have been hard to explain.

She put her hand on her hip and turned to face him. "Well I didn't _know_ they were yours. It wasn't as if you put a label on them to keep away."

He smiled and took a sip of the creamy yogurt drink. "You'd think the neat little piles would have been an indication."

"I didn't _see_ neat little piles. I just saw piles."

Putting up a hand in an 'alright...alright' gesture, Neville reached over and placed the half-drained glass on the arm of one of the outdoor chairs. "So what are you going to do once the holiday is over?"

Lavender ran a fingertip around the lip of her glass. "You know, I think I'm going to travel more. Parvati was the one who got me to do this trip and I'm dreading the idea of going back to England and begging for my job back after only a few weeks..." She drew in a breath. "I'm going to the Delhi Portkey Authority on Thursday. I hear Thailand is lovely right now. So I'm going to go."

"By yourself?"

"I think I have enough tools under my belt to keep myself out of trouble. For the most part." Lavender smiled. "Plunge in. Feet first." She raised her glass. "The Gryffindor way."

He reached for his glass and lifted it up, clinking it against hers. "The Gryffindor Way."

。.★. 。

"So tell me everything," Parvati said excitedly, plopping down on the bed and holding out a packet with a facial mask in it. "I haven't seen Neville for a few years. Did you know he got that handsome? Did you know he'd grown that beard. That beard is _everything_."

She truly had to admit that Parvati wasn't entirely _wrong_ in her statement. All of the boys from their year had grown; she'd crossed paths with a number of them coming into Malkins for robes. But she hadn't really _noticed_ any of them. Not really. Oh, well there was that one time where she couldn't stop staring at Roger Davies, but then he'd turned around and she couldn't really move past the fact that his eyes were just a little bit too close together and that put an end to _that_. But Neville was different. She could really appreciate the change and she could really agree that he wore that beard of his very well indeed.

"You're just saying that because Ranesh has a full beard and he's got you so bamboozled," Padma walked into the room, rubbing her long dark hair with a towel that had probably been white when she started but was stained all different colours of the rainbow now.

"Oh pish," Parvati threw a rolled up sock at her sister.

Padma dodged the sock and spoke in an exaggerated whisper to Lavender. "I swear, she's mental over that man. Never shuts up about him. Ever since Mum mentioned negotiating the match, it's been a nightmare."

Lavender gave Padma a sage nod and scooted back from Parvati's indignant squeal and another rolled up sock. She was not a stranger to her best friend's enamoured cooing over the young man that her parents had set her up with. 

Luckily she didn't have to live with the girl like Padma did. Though it wasn't as if Ranesh was terrible to look at. He just wasn't Lavender's type, but she could see why Parvati was so taken with the man.

Parvati swatted, not gently, at Lavender's leg. "You. Neville. What did you talk about while we were gone."

Lavender shook her head, grabbing a hair tie and sweeping her hair up into a ponytail. "Nothing really. He's going back to the beach tomorrow to get more plants and then heading out to another location."

"And the flirting? Was there flirting? Didn't you flirt with him?"

"Me?" Lavender had started to apply the white sheet mask to her face. She pressed the pieces against the sides of her nose and lips, smoothing down the wrinkles. "Neville? Flirt with _Neville_?"

Parvati gave an elegant half shrug. "Flirting isn't a commitment. Just... flirting."

Reaching for the sock that had been thrown at her earlier, she lobbed it back at Parvati, hitting her squarely in the chest. She knew all about non-committal flirting. She certainly didn't need a lesson from Parvati about it. If there had been a chance to get an OWL about it, Lavender would have received Exceeds Expectations. Or even an Outstanding. She was good at flirting and she certainly didn't think the back and forth between Neville and herself had been flirting. She would have known if she had been flirting. Right?

"We didn't flirt." _Much_ , she decided. "He told me a bit about his trip and I told him I was going to Thailand after this."

"Wait, what?" Both Parvati and Padma spoke at the same time staring at her from behind the white sheet masks, their mouths hanging open in identical o's.

Lavender grinned and started telling them her plan.

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

**April**

Pressing herself against the stone wall, Lavender held her wand against her chest. A little band had been attached to the bottom and then around her wrist to keep her from losing it. Not that anyone was casting _expelliarmus_ around her. That was just not good manners. But after two hours her hands were wet and starting to wrinkle and she worried about dropping it.

The Māyākl District of Bangkok was surprisingly large, encompassing two city blocks in an already overcrowded city. There were wards on the streets that fed into the district, but nearly the entire magical population of the city chose to live in this condensed area that trying to mask it and force the district to appear smaller on the outside than it was on the inside, didn't work. They'd tried. Years ago the district was only half a block and functioned almost identically to Diagon Alley, but as the population grew, more people wanted to live near others who were like them. It made keeping to the Statute of Secrecy a challenge for the Thai Magical Parliament that they redrew the borders of the Māyākl District to expand it outwards. And upwards.

Lavender looked up at the tall buildings around her, lines of laundry strung back and forth between the walls like a spiderweb. She thought back to her own flat and being irritated at the neighbour above who didn't know how to walk without clomping across the floor. She couldn't imagine living in such a place. 

Though she was enjoying visiting. So very much.

A squeak of laughter came from her right and suddenly her feet were doused in cool water. Lavender turned to see a chubby-faced toddler waving a tiny bucket before turning and splashing away in the puddles. Lavender pointed her wand and flicked a weak aguamenti in the child's direction, lightly dousing its head. Peals of laughter rang out and the toddler began scraping its bucket along the ground to pick up more water, a rounded bum high in the air.

When she chose Thailand, Parvati had regaled her with stories about the beaches and the food. And she'd tried those. She'd sat on a beach until she'd grown tired of the roaring waves and the sand in her bathing suit. She'd gone to restaurants and a few night clubs. She stayed out far later than she should have and possibly drunk much more than she needed. In the end it grew tiresome. Perhaps she was getting too old for youthful partying. It was an odd thought to have considering she was in her twenties.

Then someone had mentioned the upcoming Songkran.

One would think that a holiday where people basically participated in the world's largest water fight would be a bit silly. But the muggle markets had put out tables of plastic water guns in preparation and it was all anyone seemed to talk about. Even the magical community got involved. Of course spells could be used, but there were daily classes on how to best participate around the Māyākl District and suddenly shops that sold only magical items were soon stocked with colourful buckets and waterproof snacks.

The unbridled joy of the entire city was contagious.

A jet of water hit her in the back and Lavender squealed in surprise, turning around to retaliate, casting aguamenti at her attacker. When the stream of water stopped, her hands opened in surprise, flying up to cover her mouth. Her wand dangled from the band around her wrist.

"Hey, Lavender," Neville said, swiping his hand across his face and slicking back his dripping hair.

She sucked in a breath behind her fingertips. Yes, she'd noticed his forearms and yes she had noticed the way his shoulders were more broad and yes she might have spared a thought or two about how his face looked infinitely more rugged with the stubble and beard. But she hadn't prepared herself for the way his shirt now clung to his chest. Did he even realize just how clingy and transparent his shirt had become? Who wears white clothing to a water fight? 

Apparently Mr "I was actually hiding a defined set of abdominal muscles all this time" Longbottom. That's who.

"Neville! What on earth are you doing here?" she demanded, fanning her face and acting as if it was just the weather that was making her so warm. It had to be, yes?

"Still travelling. Still doing research." He held up a leather tote, also dripping with water, and patted the side. "And you said you were going to try Thailand so I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if you were around Māyākl District on this auspicious day."

Lavender twisted her hand and caught her wand. A wicked smile appeared on her face and she stretched out her arm, pointing the wand at him. "Then that was your first mistake, Longbottom," she laughed and cast another aguamenti. The stream of water was larger this time and if there had been any part of him dry before, it was no longer.

But he didn't just stand there. Instead, Neville shoved his tote behind him, the strap running diagonal across his chest, and retaliated with a spell of his own. Lavender squealed and tried to dodge, but too much time practicing spells in secret in the room of requirement had made Neville an excellent shot. Both of them were excellent shots, to be quite honest, as they lobbed spells back and forth, laughing all the while. Soon the laughter outweighed the spell casting and Neville threw up his hands, calling for a truce.

"Yield!" He laughed. "I yield!"

Lavender flicked one last spell, just enough to splash his feet before putting her wand away. She gathered up her long brown hair and twisted it, wringing some of the water from the strands before combing her fingers through it. Neville gave his head a shake and drops of water flew from the beard on his chin. Neither one of them opted to dry their clothes as the day was warm and the wet clothing was cooling. It would dry soon enough on its own. And she wouldn't mind the view while it happened. No harm came from just looking. 

"So what was my second mistake?" Neville asked, taking a long sip from a tall glass of Thai iced tea. 

They'd settled themselves in a little nook of a restaurant tucked into an alley just outside of the wizarding district. Half the room was a few ramshackle chairs and tables, the other half was pots and pans almost crashing together and a wife calling out what might have been instructions or insults—Lavender wasn't sure—as they cooked the meal. 

She found herself fascinated by the tiny restaurant. And maybe even the word restaurant wasn't accurate for this little place. But she'd not been disappointed by any of the little places she'd eaten at, so she was certain this would be no different when she'd pointed at pictures of dishes to the woman taking their order.

"I haven't decided yet," Lavender grinned, wiggling on her chair. It wobbled on uneven legs. "But you'll be the first to know."

He shook his head with a rueful smile, moving his glass as the older woman brought their plates of pork phanaeng and bowls of rice. A short silence fell between them as they tucked in, punctuated only by a few clangs of the pots in the kitchen or sounds of enjoyment between the two of them as they ate. 

Lavender loved a good roast beef supper with yorkshire puddings and veg, or a newspaper wrapped packet of fish and chips from the shop a block from her flat, but she was quickly starting to realise just how much _flavour_ she was missing in England. She was going to have to find some of the same places in London when she got back.

Neville's hand waved in front of her face, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hmm?" 

"I asked if you had an idea of where you'll go after this," he said, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin and pushing the empty plate away.

A smile crept onto her face. "You plan on following me, Longbottom?"

"No!" he protested, reaching for his glass. "But I've been travelling around Asia since August last year, I could give you some suggestions. Unless you're going home after this."

Lavender dragged her spoon across the bowl and scraped up the last of the curry-covered rice. She hadn't explicitly made plans for her next stop, but she also hadn't explicitly made plans to continue. She'd been gone from England for almost six weeks and although her finances were sound, it was a long time to be away from people she knew. She wasn't sure if she was homesick or not. 

"Parvati said I'd exhaust myself," she said, licking the last of the rice from her spoon and pushing away the plate. "But I don't think I am just yet. Sometimes it's a bit hard because I don't understand the language, but hand signals and pointing works wonders."

Neville chuckled. "I had the same experience. Came home briefly for the holidays; Gran would have skinned me alive if I'd missed Christmas."

"And your parents..."

He shifted a little. Lavender didn't continue on that topic of conversation. But it wasn't like she didn't know. They'd had the injured from Hogwarts recovering at St. Mungo's for months and the wards were so full that most got moved to the Janus Thickey ward. She'd met Neville's mum and dad only once just before she'd been released. It was completely unfair that such an awful thing had happened to such nice people, and to Neville.

"Yeah, I could never just not visit them at Christmas," he said, finishing his drink.

"I'll probably finish all this before the holidays. I don't think I could do a tropical Christmas. It just doesn't seem right." She flashed a bright smile to lighten the dip in the mood. Throwing down a handful of baht to pay for their meal, Lavender got to her feet and gestured vaguely toward the exit. "But between now and then... I think I'll just enjoy myself." 

It wasn't too much later that they were standing in front of a door in a winding corridor with similar doors. The room where she'd been staying was very similar to a London bedsit. The floor had to have at least twelve different rooms in twelve different nooks and crannies of the magical building. It didn't look like there would be that many, but like the Leaky Cauldron in London, looks could be deceiving. The rooms all with beds and tiny sofas and a shared toilet at the end of the hall. Lavender had only been using it as a place to sleep after leaving the coastal beach resorts. Exploring during the day and then crashing at night. It was rather perfect and she liked the independence of looking after herself.

She hurriedly flicked her wand at some clothing strewn about and banished them off to her suitcase.

Neville looked between her bed and the sofa before choosing to sit on the latter. Lavender dropped her wand on the counter and gathered up an enormous stack of pamphlets she'd collected at the resort on the coast. Some were in English and some were in Thai and many of them were in German, but they all had pictures and maps on the back. She dumped them on the sofa, half on the cushions and half on his lap before finding a place to sit on the floor by his knees.

"Alright, expert traveller, help me plan where to go next."

。.★. 。

Lavender woke the next morning with a crick in her neck and a pamphlet sticking to the side of her face, having been pinned under her cheek during the night. Stretching she looked blearily around the room and frowned a little. She didn't like being abandoned in secret like this and planned to give Neville a good talking to the next time she saw him. Wiping the side of her face, she sat up, tugging her shirt up over her head and dropping it on the floor.

One of the pamphlets had some scribbles on it. Lavender leaned forward and snatched it up, holding it closer to the window while rubbing the grains of sleep from her eyes.

_Have to go. Fieldwork to complete._

_Do this one for sure._

_15th of July._

Scrunching her nose, Lavender pointed at the pamphlet. "Maybe I will. Maybe I won't!"

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

**July**

Lavender was starting to feel like an idiot for looking forward to this day. She'd spent the previous weeks checking off East Asian countries as if she had a shopping list. Japan, Laos, China. The magical districts of each were so intriguing and never in her life would she have ever expected to see a Chinese Fireball up close. But the reserve in Gansu Province had been spectacular and so accommodating. To think she'd never been all that interested in dragons before and yet she'd almost had trouble tearing herself away from it all.

But China was now behind her.

And all that was in front of her was again a sea of faces that she didn't recognise in a country with which she was unfamiliar.

Not that it wasn't beautiful, because South Korea was lovely. And not that she wasn't enjoying herself, because she _was_. The food was amazing and she'd never expected Seoul to be as interesting as it was, but every single neighbourhood was different and interesting and getting lost on more than one occasion wasn't even all that frightening because there was always something new to see. But she was keenly aware of the fact that she was seeing all these things alone despite the fact that this had always been the plan. To see the world alone and not rely on anyone else.

Except... she'd been hoping for this day. Maybe a little too much.

She'd left the city early that morning and travelled with a busload of muggles not knowing what to expect. Upon arriving at the Gungnamji pond, she quickly found herself taking in the very calm and very serene surroundings. She happily watched the opening performance of some legend which she enjoyed but wasn't all that familiar in a language she didn't understand. She found herself making necklaces and trying calligraphy, but once it was over she wasn't sure what to do with herself.

A pair of chattering teenagers dashed past the bench on which Lavender had sat, positioning themselves in front of the water. They began posing with each other, holding their fingers in Vs for a camera held at arm's length.

Suddenly Lavender felt very lonely.

"Well it wasn't like he promised that he'd be here," she said under her breath and got to her feet. "You could go back to the preserve in China. At least the Fireballs were interesting and Jin spoke perfectly acceptable English. They wouldn't make you think that they were going to show up at a park in Korea on the fifteenth of July, oh no..." 

She trailed off, realising that she was starting to rant. To herself. The girls paused in their picture taking to look at her and whisper behind their hands. Lavender gave them a little smile and a dismissive wave before leaving the park. 

She didn't need a dashing and surprisingly charming Neville Longbottom to have a good time. No she did not.

Pulling her bag from her shoulder, Lavender plunged her hand deep into the charmed pocket on the front to find her wand, already thinking ahead to what she might have for supper and what messages she might send back to China to see if she could visit the preserve again. She was so tangled up in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her or the clearing of a throat.

So the lotus blossom that appeared in front of her face startled her more than it ought to have and she flung her arms out in surprise with a yelp.

Clocking Neville in the face in the process.

"Ow!" Neville dropped the blossom and held a hand to his eye.

Lavender's bag fell to the ground and she clapped her hands over her mouth. "Ohmygosh!"

"I suppose maybe I deserved that. Shouldn't have surprised you like that," he said, rubbing the spot she'd hit and squinting a little. "Were you leaving?"

She crouched down and began picking up the few things that had fallen out of her bag, looking up at him. "I thought..." She waved her hand before reaching for the fallen blossom. "Oh it doesn't matter." A smile appeared on her face. "It's good to see you again."

A smile appeared on his face and he held out his hand to her to help her up. "I meant to get here earlier, but there was a mislabelling catastrophe I had to deal with."

Lavender gave him a look. "A mislabelling _catastrophe_..."

He flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "It sounds dumb, I know." He chuckled. "But I couldn't leave it and the next thing I knew half the day had passed." He ran his thumb over one of the petals of the lotus blossom in her hand. "It'd be like calling this the same as dittany because it helps to stop bleeding. They're not the same, so they can't be labelled the same or someone could truly get hurt. And no good Herbologist would let a plant do that."

A smile dragged itself across Lavender's face as memories of his enthusiasm in Herbology class bounced around in her head. He'd always had such respect and adoration for plants and it was refreshing to see that he hadn't lost it during the war. She looked at the flower and then back at his face before glancing around to check for anyone that might be watching. Satisfied that they were in the clear for the most part, she took out her wand and discreetly cast a preserving spell before taking the flower and tucking it safely into her bag.

She held out her hand to him. "Alright, Mr Good Herbologist. Lead me around and tell me everything you know about the flowers here." He gave her a skeptical look which prompted Lavender to grab hold of his hand and gesture toward the water. "I'm serious. Everything. Wow me."

Surprisingly enough he did wow her. Lavender had never been the sort to really _get_ herbology or plants for that matter. Every last houseplant she'd ever had since leaving school had ended up a shrivelled and choking for life under the care of her very black thumb. Her mother had to put a stop to Lavender owning them after rescuing the fifth African violet and fourth Christmas cactus. Even her own namesake had turned into a barren pot of brittle sticks on her windowsill instead of the scented purple flowers she'd hoped for.

"Please, dear. My house can't take anymore," her mother had begged.

"You don't have to rescue every one of them, mum," Lavender had pointed out, sadly running her finger over a violet leaf and sighing in disappointment when it fell to the floor. "They can just go in the bin."

"That's a waste, Lavender!"

In the end Lavender had agreed to not purchase any more plants and her mum had promised to nurse all the dying ones back to health. Eventually the recovered plants had made their way to a hospice home near her parent's house. At least they would bring joy to someone. She glanced over at Neville who was pointing out the subtle differences in magical properties of the different colour of flowers. A smile appeared on her face at the thought that her own mother would think he was fascinating and have so many plant related questions for him.

"You should write a book," she said thoughtfully.

Neville let out a chuckle. "Everything I know has already been written in books."

"It doesn't have to be an instructional book," she replied. "You could write about what you love about plants. Or your travels. I bet people would buy it."

Shaking his head, Neville got up from where he'd crouched near the blossoms. He brushed the dust off his trousers. "I doubt anyone would want to read about my adventures of being knee deep in Vietnamese rice paddies looking for Felling's water vines."

"I'm sure there's someone out there who would. Perhaps the next Neville Longbottom of Hogwarts," she grinned and gave him a squeeze. "So. Any thoughts on where we might meet next? Tibet? South America? Australia? I hear New Zealand is rather pretty and has lots of places for things to grow."

He gave her an uncomfortable look. "I'm back to England, after this, actually. Gran asked me to come home for a while."

"Oh..." Lavender tried to keep the disappointment from her voice. He'd only just got here and now he wasn't sure if he'd meet up with her again? Why did this make her so unhappy? She forced a smile. "Well, then I shall have to send you a postcard from wherever I end up next."

"You could come home too," he said, giving her a side glance.

If only she had been paying attention. She might have noticed the hopeful expression on his face.

She waved her hand. "No... no I don't think I'm ready for that just yet." Shoving her hands into her pockets she smiled. "Let's go find something delicious to eat then. My treat before you have to head home."

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

**September**

Oh to be gloriously intoxicated.

Lavender tore another piece of roast chicken off the bone and popped it into her mouth before lifting the enormous stein to her lips and taking a deep drink. Either the chicken made the beer taste better or the beer made the chicken stand out, she wasn't sure and nor did she actually care all that much. Her face was flushed and her belly was starting to ache from all the food, but she kept going because the encouragement of the crowd around her was thrilling. And perhaps their chants and cheers when steins were finished weren't directed at her, but they affected her nevertheless.

She revelled in the joy of it all.

Munich hadn't been her first choice, but there was something to be said for getting back to something that was a little more familiar. She'd spent so much time in places that were warm or sticky with humidity that a change in climate was refreshing. So close to home and yet so very not. 

Perhaps her journey was nearing its end.

A couple of drunken revellers danced their way past her table, bumping into it as they went by. Despite the heavy and very sturdy glass, her drink nearly toppled over. Lavender leapt to her feet, reaching out to catch the glass. Or she thought she leapt to her feet. Instead it was more of a stagger, her head swimming a lot more now that she was vertical than it had been when she was sitting. But the glass didn't fall over. So there was that.

Except now the floor was tilting to the side.

"Stupid floor," Lavender managed to mutter as her legs didn't compensate for the tilt and her whole body swayed off kilter. Pinching her eyes shut, Lavender prepared herself for the impact of hitting the ground.

As luck would have it, the ground wasn't nearly as hard as she thought. In fact it was almost as if she'd missed the ground entirely. Or landed on a pillow. Opening her eyes, she looked around the Hofbräu-Festzelt and then down at the hands that were gripping her under her arms. She tilted her head backwards and broke out into a smile, reaching up with a hand to pat Neville's face.

"It's Neville Longbottom! I didn't even tell Neville Longbottom that I was coming here!" she said—possibly shouted—above the noise. "And I didn't hit you this time! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

His lips moved and she patted her fingers across them, just grinned because she couldn't hear a word he was saying.

The next thing she knew they were outside the enormous festival hall and off to the side behind some very large kegs by the entrance. Lavender felt a small bottle being pressed to her hands and she frowned when she looked at it. It wasn't the first time she'd seen the swirling purple and orange potion and she didn't even have to read the wavy lettering on the outside to know it was a detoxifying elixir. Her lip poked out in a pout and she tried to protest that she didn't _want_ to be sober.

Lavender tilted the bottle back and forth, swirling the liquid around before leaning forward and prodding him in the chest with a grin. "Why did you come all this way?" she asked.

"Parvati said..."

"Oh so this was _Parvati's_ idea..." Lavender looked up at him. All the edges around him were slightly blurred. She scrunched up her nose and thumbed the top off of the elixir bottle, downing its contents. Neville's form pulled into sharper focus as the effects of the beer drained out of her.

He shook his head. "No... No it was mine."

A warm feeling pooled in her stomach at those words and she flushed, not entirely sure if the sensation was a residual leftover from her intoxication only moments before. She realized then that she'd been looking forward to seeing him. Every time she'd been in a new location, there'd always been this niggling hope in the back of her mind that he'd show up and then when he didn't she'd been disappointed. Now he was here and the pleasure of having him around was palatable. 

She smiled brightly. "So what now?"

"We could go back inside," he answered.

"I've got a better idea," she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the crowded wisen.

A good hour and a long wait in a queue later, Lavender looked out over the city of Munich as the slightly swaying gondola rose up. She hadn't wanted to ride the Willenborg by herself; the enormous ferris wheel was a little intimidating, but she found herself enjoying the ride. The car bounced a little as the wheel stopped near the top and Neville's hand pressed to the seat between them. Lavender looked over and realised his eyes were pinched tightly shut.

"Are you nervous?"

"I just... I usually keep to the ground. I have this thing with heights."

Lavender turned, mouth open. "Neville! Why didn't you say anything while we were still in the queue? I wouldn't have picked this if you'd said you weren't comfortable."

He waved his hand, eyes still closed tight. "It's fine. If I don't look, then I'm fine."

"You're not fine," she turned to face him. The bounce of the gondola made him suck his breath in through his nose. Lavender lifted her hands and placed one on each side of his face, cupping her hands near his eyes to form almost blinders. She pulled him closer. "Look at me." He slowly cracked open his eyes and Lavender held his face. His eyes darted around a bit and she cleared her throat. "Just me. Don't look anywhere else."

It seemed to take ages, but finally the wheel made a full turn and she waved at the attendant to let them off instead of going around for the second round that they paid for. She dragged Neville off the gondola and over to a bench where he sat for a few moments to compose himself. Taking a seat next to him, Lavender found herself weaving her fingers with his and squeezing his hand.

"You should have said something."

"I didn't think it would be all that bad. I guess being dropped off a pier or out a window as a kid does that to a person."

Lavender almost caught herself asking what he meant by that but stopped herself when the memory of conversations between the boys at the breakfast table surfaced. She'd forgotten about the things that his uncle had put him through to prove that he wasn't a squib. She hadn't realised the lasting effects it would have had.

"Sorry, I put a damper on your fun," he said after a while, looking up at the enormous ferris wheel.

"Pish," Lavender said and tipped her head to rest it against his shoulder. "We can find our own fun that doesn't involve amusement rides."

"More drinking in the Hofbräu-Festzelt?"

She smiled. "No, I think I'm done with that. I'd have to sober up all over again and it's no fun doing it twice in one evening."

Neville placed his hands on his knees and pushed to stand. "Alright. You lead, I'll follow so long as it doesn't involve leaving the ground." He grinned.

"Deal," she said, also standing.

They spent the rest of the night firmly planted on the ground. Rather, Neville spent his night planted firmly on the ground. Lavender did happen partake in the spinning devil's wheel and was almost the last one remaining on the twirling disk until someone with a lasso managed to drag her off and onto the foam covered platform. Neville tried his hand at the high striker, swinging a mallet down and seeing if he could ring the bell. He didn't. But Lavender did get another glimpse of those lovely forearms of his—how had she never noticed them before?—and he did manage to win a small plush pretzel for his effort.

She didn't want the evening to end.

Shaking a bag of gebrannte mandeln, she plucked out one of the sugary almonds and held it out to Neville. "How much time do we have left?"

He popped the snack into his mouth. "Hmm?"

"You're probably on your way to another exciting research venture so I might as well make good of the time I have, yes?" She looked at him with a smile and hoped her voice wasn't a _too_ falsely cheerful. "You know I was thinking of maybe heading south again to warmer climes. I hear the Día de Muertos celebration is amazing and I've heard that the food is amazing and the magical distrito has roots that go back before the new world was discovered and—"

"I'm not doing travelling research right now. I came to see you..."

She stopped in her tracks and it took him a couple of steps to notice that she wasn't beside him anymore. He turned to face her. Lavender picked at the edge of the paper bag of almonds, trying to swallow the heart that had leapt up into her throat and started beating wildly. Having this reaction was actually quite new for her. She was usually so in control of her reactions when it came to men that she admired or men that she fancied. But this was different. This was confusion and befuddlement and it was Neville and he was a good friend. A good friend who had gotten very handsome and was nice to her and made her laugh and she loved him dearly.

She was in love with him.

Oh. _Oh._

She was. She was absolutely in love with him. Every time he showed up, she was happier than she had been when he wasn't around. Every single time she saw him, whether it was Thailand or Korea or Germany, it was like her trip got even better. She was lonely when he wasn't around and she enjoyed the country more when he was there.

"It was your idea to come here..." she said, looking down at the almonds in her hand. It was a statement, not a question.

"It was."

"To see me."

"To see you," he echoed.

"Not for Oktoberfest." She looked up.

"No. Not for Oktoberfest. Beer is not actually my preference." Neville cracked a smile. "It was never about where you were," he said and she noticed a flush on his cheeks. "It was always just that you were there."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

Lavender sucked in a breath, ready to let a good number of questions to spill out because she had so many questions. Thousands of them. But the thing about being kissed, it made all the words just vanish from her head. And that's what he was doing. He was kissing her and she could feel the smile on his face and the slight roughness of this beard and she dropped her almonds. She'd always wanted to be surprised by a kiss and this one was surprising. Perhaps that it was Neville, but perhaps because she hadn't realised just how much she had wanted him to kiss her until it was happening. Her arms drifted up to wrap around his shoulders and she smiled into the kiss. 

He pulled back after a moment. "You really didn't realize it was all about you?"

She chuckled. "I really didn't... But I'm glad that it was."

And she was glad. She was glad that he was kissing her again. She was glad that his arms were around her waist. She was glad he nodded when she suggested that they leave and maybe not snog each other silly in the middle of a German festival when there was a perfectly good and perfectly _private_ hotel room available. There was so much to be glad about.

"This isn't too fast? Is it?" she asked as he pressed kisses to her neck as her hands slid under his shirt. Defined abdominals were real and hadn't been her imagination. One hundred percent confirmed.

"I'd say after going from India to Thailand to Korea to Germany... it's been a long trek already." His breath was warm against her ear. "Six months of waiting doesn't feel too fast to me."

The tickle of his breath and the whispered words sent a shiver down her spine. Lavender closed her eyes briefly and then brought her hands up, pushing against his shoulders. Neville gave her a confused look, but pulled away. Not wanting him to think she was stopping all this, she sat up and pressed a kiss to his lips before giving him another push until he rolled over onto his back. With a smile, she moved until her knees were on either side of his hips and her hands could freely pluck at the buttons on his shirt.

"You were too patient," she said, leaning down and kissing his chest. "Especially after how much I have to admit I was ogling you."

"Were you?" he asked, his breath hitching. Lavender looked at him.

"Oh don't play that you didn't notice, Mister Shows Up to a Water Fight in a White Shirt." She ran her hands along his torso, nails lightly dragging along his skin, smiling at the goosebumps that followed. She met his gaze.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he said, his voice slightly strained and his hands moving from her hips up to her waist and then back to her hips again.

Lavender grinned and sat up, crossing her arms and grasping the hem of her shirt, pulling it up over her head. She tossed it to the floor and looked down at him, slowly tugging the tie from her hair and letting it fall loosely around her shoulders. Catching his hand, she walked his fingers up the middle of her abdomen until they were brushing the front clasp of her bra before she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his nose, his head now surrounded by a curtain of loose hair.

"You're a terrible liar, Neville," she said.

He looked at her for a long moment before breaking out into a smile.

"You're right. I am. And you're right... I noticed." With a sudden surge of motion he flipped their positions and Lavender now stared up at his face above hers. "It was like I was a piece of meat. So uncomfortable "

She was about to retort with something extremely witty and so very coy, but the words died on her lips as his fingers made short work of the clasp on her bra, pushing the fabric away. She arched her back as his hands moved over her bare skin, gasping at the slight roughness of his fingers as they brushed across her nipples. She hadn't considered that his hands would be rough, but of course they would be. He'd spent all that time doing fieldwork and digging up plants.

"I always knew you were beautiful," he breathed, leaning down to kiss between her breasts.

Her fingers carded through his hair and she drew in a shaking breath as kisses were pressed down over her ribcage and her abdomen. The rest of their clothing slowly found its way to the floor and Neville pressed kisses to every part of her that he slowly exposed, the bump of her hipbone, the top of her thigh, the side of her kneecap, her ankle. Silly places, she had always thought, received kisses, but instead of teasing him on his choices, she couldn't help but feel a thrill run through her body at every brush of his lips. But none of that compared to the jolt that coursed through her when his kisses moved slowly up the inside of her thigh.

He pressed soft kisses everywhere except for the part that seemed to ache the most and a soft whine caught in the back of her throat. She thought she could feel him smile against her skin and she made an impatient noise, trying to guide him with her hand at the back of his head.

"Please," she whispered.

He obliged.

If someone were to have taken Lavender aside in seventh year, when they were all crammed into the Room of Requirement, and told her that of all the boys in their year _Neville_ would be the one with the most oral talent, she wasn't sure she would have believed them. But there, in a little hotel room in Germany, with his head between her legs and his tongue doing unimaginably wonderful things, Lavender truly believed it now. Her hand clutched at his hair, gasping at the sensations that washed over her at every movement.

And just when she thought she might pull apart at the seams, he drew back, leaving her tightly wound with no release.

She'd never considered herself to be someone who whimpered, but that was all she could manage to do.

But moments later they had shifted positions and she was back to straddling his hips. Except this time there were no trousers between them. Instead it was skin against skin. Lavender smiled and leaned down, her breasts pressing against his chest as she reached between their bodies and moved until she could feel the head of his cock. Her thumb circled briefly around the tip and she watched his eyes flutter closed.

One swift movement and a moment later he was nestled deep inside of her. Lavender lifted her hips slightly and sank down against him and Neville's hands came to her hips, his fingers pressing into the flesh of her bum as he rocked himself up against her. It started slow. It started as if they were making love. But she was already wound tight and she couldn't help but start to press down harder against him, meeting every upward thrust.

One hand rose to her breast and she plucked at her own nipple as the other drifted down between her legs, her fingertips sliding over her already sensitive clit. It didn't take much and couldn't stop herself from moaning when his hand nudged her fingers away, taking over and pressing harder against her clit until tremors started to dance through her body. He sat up, his mouth crashing against hers and Lavender wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"Come for me," he mumbled against her lips, rapidly flicking his thumb across her clit.

And she did. All spasms and fireworks and plaintive cries that seemed to last forever.

Minutes passed or perhaps hours, Lavender wasn't sure. Nor did she care.

She lifted her head and propped her chin against his chest, rising and falling with every breath he took. She smiled at him and ran a finger down his cheek, closing her eyes as his fingertips twisted a lock of hair around and around before letting go. 

"How many times would I have to ask to convince you to come with me to Mexico?" she asked, tracing her fingertip around a flat nipple.

He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. "Only the once, Lavender. Only the once."

"And the rest of the world?"

He kissed her palm again. "Anywhere you want to go, I'd like to follow."

.✫*ﾟ·ﾟ。.★.*。·ﾟ✫*.

Parvati thanked the owl for its parcel and closed the window to the cold. She tugged the letter off and then set down the box, tearing open the envelope. Once the letter was out, she pointed her wand at the box and set it to unwrapping itself. A glass ball holding a wooden shoe filled with replicas of candy and toys floated out of the parcel. She sent it floating over to the tree that Lavender had stored at her and Padma's flat and let it find a place among the branches. It joined a bauble full of coloured powder from India and one that was like a snow globe but held two people locked in a never ending water fight from Thailand. A garland of magically preserved lotus blossoms wove its way around the tree partially obscuring a 'wish you were here' miniature beer stein and an almost spooky, yet completely colourful little skull.

Parvati grinned.

"Where are they now?" Padma asked, poking her head from the kitchen.

"She says they left Amsterdam after Sinterklaas day. They'll be home soon for Christmas to see Neville's parents and spend time with all of us, then it's off to glass igloos in Kakslauttanen," she answered, reading off the letter that had accompanied the parcel.

"You'd think she would be tired of it by now. Living out of a suitcase."

Parvati gave her sister a look and then returned her attention to the letter. "It makes her happy. And so does he."


End file.
